In a span of about 30 hours over June 26 and 27, approximately 6.5 inches of rain fell in the Woodville area. All of this rain in that amount of time caused area streams and rivers to flood quickly. The Portage River crested at approximately 13.71 feet. This was by no means a record for the area as there was a crest of 14.66 feet that was recorded in 2008. The highest recorded crest of all time was 17 feet in 1913.

The deluge threatened Woodville’s 73rd Annual Fourth of July Celebration, forced committee members to implement Plan B and strategize a Plan C for future celebrations.

With water covering Trailmarker Park, the festival site, less than a week before July 4th, many wondered if the annual celebration would go on. Rene Dix, committee co-chair, said the committee wondered if the water would go down in time, would the ground dry out enough to have fireworks on Friday night and would the river smell go away by the weekend.

Oregon is about to begin Phase 3 of the sanitary sewer rehabilitation project to reduce infiltration and inflow (I&I) of storm water into the sanitary sewers.

Phase 3, which will be mostly funded by a low interest loan from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF), consists of lining sanitary sewers to eliminate sewer overflows. The city applied for the loan in April.

Oregon council in June approved a $1.9 million contract with Performance Pipeline, of Ottawa, Illinois, for Phase 3. The bid was much lower than the city’s $3 million cost estimate for the project.

Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Projects Phases 1 and 2 have already been completed. Phase 3 includes the rehabilitation of mainline and lateral sanitary sewers in the Euclid Park, Old Eastmoreland, and Valley Park areas and the lining of 56 manholes.

T-Town Action Week comes to East Toledo on August 3-8, and residents are focusing on an area One Voice for East Toledo leaders say is afflicted by prostitution and known drug houses.

The City of Toledo and One Voice are recruiting volunteers to join their “anti-blight movement,” which means cleaning up the area between Starr to Navarre and Oak to White, focusing on East Broadway over to Main to Oak.

Jodi Gross, East Toledo Family Center community builder and One Voice leader, says the area that faces the most challenges sits along East Broadway between Nevada and Starr.

“That’s been on our radar for a long time,” Gross said, adding that the clean-up has been expanded to meet those challenges.

“The biggest thing is just showing the community that we need to take back our neighborhoods. Even though we are pounding the pavement to try and get this taken care of, we need everybody to do it, especially in that particular area,” Gross continued.

A site on Oregon and Wales roads in Northwood will become the central campus of Buckeye CableSystem and Telesystem, it was announced last week.

The company will move over 500 employees from Toledo to a 150,000-square-foot facility that is currently being used by Taylor, Nelson and Sofres (TNS), formerly NFO, at 2700 Oregon Road. Buckeye CableSystem recently bought the building, said Northwood City Administrator Bob Anderson. According to the Wood County Auditor’s website, the building was purchased June 26 for $6.25 million.

TNS, a market research company, employs 137 people. The city, which has a 1.5 percent income tax rate, collects about $125,000 annually in revenue from the company’s payroll. The city will help TNS find another location, said Anderson.

As memberships at the Genoa quarry continue to drop, village officials wonder if it and an adjacent park area are succumbing to a change in lifestyle for families and children.

Two years ago quarry memberships reached 120 but dropped last year to 61. This year, only 41 memberships have been purchased.

“It’s been trending down,” Mayor Mark Williams said. “I’m told back in the 1950s the village sold more than 300 passes in a season. But few people had pools.”

However, at a time when health advisories for beaches along Lake Erie are not uncommon and stories of algal blooms in the lake dominate the headlines, the mayor and Mike Thomas, the parks director, are puzzled why the quarry, with its beach area, two diving boards, four rafts and a tube slide, doesn’t draw larger crowds.